Hemmi Slide Rule Manufacturing Process
The following stills were generated from an 8mm film apparently taken by a Hemmi employee, showing various steps in the slide rule manufacturing process. They were taken from a VHS tape of the movie I received from Hemmi in the early 1990s, and, judging from some of the vehicles not seen in these stills, the original was probably created in the late 1950s.
Movie Title
Bronze Bust of Hemmi Jiro
President Ohkura
Map of Kyushu showing Kagoshima, the source of bamboo for Hemmi slide rules
Close-up of bamboo source
Bamboo thicket
Measuring bamboo
Chopping bamboo
Carrying bamboo
Temporary storage
Trucking out of the mountains
Boiling
Outdoor drying
Outdoor drying
Route to the plant
Shirako Plant title
Plant gate
Fire perimeter description
Plant buildings
Truck loaded with bamboo
Bamboo entering plant
Unloading a truck load of bamboo
Raw bamboo inspection
Processing of raw bamboo pieces
Machine ejecting bamboo strips
Curing
Inspection Department
Inspection of blanks
Plant floor
Finished blanks are ejected
Varnishing blanks for simplex slide rules
Simplex slide rule manufacturing process (I)
Simplex slide rule manufacturing process (II)
Simplex slide rule manufacturing process (III)
Simplex slide rule manufacturing process (IV)
Simplex slide rule manufacturing process (V)
Simplex slide rule manufacturing process (VI)
Inspection of blanks for simplex slide rules
Cutting celluloid sheets
Cut celluloid sheets
Gluing on the celluloid sheets
Glue mixer
Hairline scribing
Cursor assembly
Production floor
Inking
Production floor
Grinding away excess ink
Final removal of excess ink
Insertion of conversion factor sheets (these appear to be 2664S slide rules)
Packaged rules ready for shipping
Slide rules loaded onto a truck
Dock